Monday, March 28, 2016

Lesson on Faith

Okay so yesterday we had a lesson about faith.

On
Saturday we found a new investigator and committed him to baptism the
10th of April. He told us that he would go to church the next day. Well,
the next morning we left Ward Council early to go by his house and walk
to church together. We arrived at 9:25 and yelled at the house (yes, we
do that because not everyone has a doorbell and the gates impede us
from knocking on the door) a few times and he didn't come out. We called
the house phone and no one answered. We called again with the same
result. At this point the majority of people would give up and leave,
sad that the investigator wouldn't be going to church and wouldn't be able
to be baptized on the set date. We did not give up. That morning in our
prayer we told God that we would show our faith and go pick him up so
that he could progress and keep his baptismal date. The scriptures tell
us that if we ask in faith, if our desire is righteous, God will give it to us. We put that promise to the test. We yelled again and again, called a
few more times and even threw little rocks on his roof (yes, another
weird way to replace knocking on the door). At 9:50 we finally heard him
inside and at 9:55 he came out and we started off to church. We arrived
during the first hymn. Our faith was put to the test and we weren't
going to leave his front porch until he either opened the door or church
started. God fulfilled his promise. Our prayer of faith was answered,
but only because we ACTED. Many times we pray faithlessly which does
nothing. For example, phrases such as "please help the people not here so
that they may attend next week" or "please bless those that are sick so
that they get better" are faithless (Those are Elder Bednar´s words,
not mine). A prayer of faith implies that we are going to ACT and not
just sit back and watch. It isn't God´s job to bring people to church or
to help the sick and needy. It's our job. Next time you pray please
analyze your prayers to see if you really are willing to ACT instead of
just ASK.